Australia introduced User Choice nationally in January 1998 to develop a national training system that is more responsive to clients' needs. User Choice is based on nine principles, including the following: (1) clients can negotiate their publicly funded training needs; (2) User Choice operates in a national training market not limited by state or territory boundaries; (3) pricing of training programs is based on clearly identified state/territory unit cost benchmarks; and (4) clients can negotiate and purchase training over and above what is essential to their qualification outcomes. The evaluations of User Choice have been broadly supportive. A comprehensive evaluation concluded that the overall policy framework is strong and progressing well. However, support for User Choice by employers has been stronger than support by public and private providers. Studies have credited User Choice with increasing the range of training options to satisfy client needs and increasing interaction between employers and providers, particularly in technical and further education. However, all the evaluations of User Choice have highlighted areas of concern and made recommendations for change, particularly in the areas of quality of training and implementation of the nine principles of User Choice in practice. A summary of user choice project approvals is appended. (Contains 20 references.) (MN)